


Demigod Brothers: The Hecate Cult

by PJO_fan_writes_fanfic



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29178003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PJO_fan_writes_fanfic/pseuds/PJO_fan_writes_fanfic
Summary: Pedro and JP never thought that beginning life in the United States would include flying pigs in the Central Park. They find out that they are sons of Greek gods, but who would it be? As they enjoy their stay at Camp Half-Blood, a cult emerges among the Hecate children, what they are planning cannot be good, since it involves powerful weapons: the Fan of Hypnos and Thanatos' Scythe. Pedro and JP have to stop this, why them? Because they are the characters in this story, that's why.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Ch. 1**

**I’ll Find a Title When Pigs Fly**

Hello New York City, the city that never sleeps, with rude and nice people, and monsters attacking 17 year-olds. My name is Pedro Souza and this is a story of how me and my brother found out that we are demigods.

Life in Brazil was a fine life, even though nothing happens in Brasilia for some reason, but it was nice. After getting our GreenCards last December, my family and I decided to move to the US, and of all the places to choose, mom and dad chose...no, mom _insisted_ New York to make a living (something about dad losing a bet, I guess how long it would take for the cards to arrive). Not that I don’t like the city, in fact I’ve never been there, I just don’t like the cold weather, and overpopulated places, just like my dad. But, since my mom insisted, we just complied. JP, my brother, didn't mind it though, he likes the cold and noisy towns 

When I said my mom, and my brother, they are not actually my mom and brother, they are my  _ step  _ family. My dad had me with another woman, he insists that she didn’t abandon us, but she did, there’s no denying that.  _ She didn’t have a choice.  _ That would always be his answer. But when I was 10, he met a woman, Carla Cardoso, she had a son my age, who turned out to be my Elementary School bully, JP. I hated his guts, and I felt it was my fault that my dad got to know the mother of my nemesis. But a year later, I found out that Carla was a single-mom just like my dad was a single-father, and JP was born under similar circumstances as me, his father abandoned him at a young age. After that we became friends, then best-friends, and now he won’t hesitate to whack someone in the head because they were messing with me. I am not one to get physical when dealing with bullies, usually I talk until they forget they were going to whoop me. 

Now that you know my family, let’s go back to New York.

We bought an apartment in Manhattan with a view to the Central Park. The apartment accommodates us easily, even with only two rooms but I don’t mind sharing a room with JP, as long as he keeps his mess on his side. The kitchen was the right size for my dad to experiment new recipes, he is a chef in his free time (He makes a heavenly Strogonoff, if you have the chance to try it you won’t regret it.) but he is a museum archivist, so living one Central Park away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a treat for him. 

JP and I are going to attend school in the spring, I think the name is Goode (Goodie? Gud? Who cares, it’s school.) So we are enjoying our free time, by going to Central Park to see the snow. It was our first time seeing it, and it almost made me like the cold weather (almost I said.) But we got side tracked because of a giant pig incident.

You know that saying  _ something, something when pigs fly _ ? Yeah, I now have a lot of debt to collect from people. Charging down, not exactly towards us, it missed by about 10 meters, this enormous pink blob of meat plunged into the ground, it was a pig alright, I’ve seen lots of them in my grandpa’s farm, and they can get to a meter high, weighing about 100kg. This one was the size of an 18 wheeler truck, I won’t even try to guess the weight, didn’t want to offend the guy...or gal. Oh, and you might be asking  _ how was it flying Pedro?  _ It had wings, but they were too small for him, they were probably bigger than me, but in the pig’s body it looked like when Ken used those really small fairy wings in Barbie: A Fairy Secret. (What? I have little cousins, and JP is “too macho” to watch Barbie movies. Weak) but you have a good picture now. 

The pig got out of the crater it made and looked straight at JP and me. It was terrifying, but for some reason I had a good feeling about what was about to happen, because I could see everything, and I don’t mean that  _ I saw my life pass through my eyes like a movie  _ or  _ time slowed as my doom was impending  _ crap, I mean I was seeing everything at the same time, at different speeds, the pig was slow but there was a squirrel movie at light speed all the way across the Park. When I looked at JP he was, well, strong, he was shining strength. And on the distance I saw two teenagers, two teenage girls, one was blonde and was wearing a blue plaid flannel, with an orange collar showing, jeans and boots, the other girl, had brown hair and a mean face, she had a red bandana, a bright orange T-shirt with some black writing and a horse in the middle, ripped jeans and sneakers, she had a baseball bat with her. Whoever she is going to whack, I really don’t want to be there to see.

I thought of telling them to step away from the pig, but they charged the thing like it was an afternoon jog to the donut shop, and then I realized: Bandana girl was not carrying a baseball bat, it was a freaking 7 feet tall spear with a copper-ish point. The blonde girl had a knife dagger, not the option I’d choose to use against a giant pig, but she made it look scary, _she_ was scary anyway.

JP was probably just as startled as I was because he didn’t jump head first like he always does in any conflict (would you be surprised if I told you he was county boxing champion when he was 14?) Anyway, we just knew that we had to help them, not because they were “damsels in distress”, they were damsels alright, but there was not much distress, we just wanted to give an extra pair of hands against the flying Piglet. 

We charged and I saw that the girls had extra weapons, the blonde girl had a sword on her belt and the bandana girl had a dagger. 

“Give me your sword!” I screamed “We can help!”

“They can see it?” said Bandana girl

Blonde girl seemed to be thinking about something, muttering under her breath. All I could hear was _demigods, Mist, Rachel you bastard._

“We deal with them later, give your dagger to the big guy.” said Blonde Girl. She gave me her sword, a Greek style blade designed for slashing rather than stabbing. I’ve held swords for my dad while he worked in the museum, so it did not feel weird holding it, the weird thing was that, for some unknown reason, I knew exactly how to use it. I looked at the blonde girl and noticed that she has deep stormy grey eyes, just like mine.

“My name is Pedro Souza.” I said.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Annabeth Chase.” she said “Want some bacon?”

  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Ch.2**

**I Will Abstain From Bacon For A While Now**

It is safe to say that our new friends were the ones who carried the team. Annabeth handed me her sword, and her friend gave JP a dagger.

“Why does he get the sword?” JP said, with a disappointed look.

“If you survive this, I’ll get you a sword of your own.” Bandana girl said, and by the look on her face, I guess she was hoping we would not survive.

“I am JP by the way.” he made an exaggerated bow.

“Clarisse, now can we go on and kill this thing?” The pig let go a loud screech, my parents probably heard it all the way back in our apartment. We charged and it was the fastest yet the most exhilarating moment in my life.

I charged for its right back leg, I could see it was damaged, if I could worsen the wound it would not be much threatening, best case scenario it would run away in pain, or something. JP, who probably read my mind, called Clarisse to help him with a distraction. The pig tried to smash them with the front legs, but they were insanely fast, and incredibly in sync with each other, even though they literally just met, as if they rehearsed for something like this. 

I ran for the leg and noticed that Annabeth was right next to me,  _ does she know what I’m doing?  _ I thought

“I’ll take the left leg, be careful.” she said.

“That was the plan.” I said. To my surprise, me and Annabeth were thinking alike, we were in sync as well  _ what is going on _ ? Our thoughts, our actions all seemed to be the same, was this a sign that we are soulmates?  _ Not now brain!  _ Check your brains every once in a while for it to not lead you astray. 

I took a quick look to see JP’s situation. Clarisse was doing the most work, piercing, dodging, then punching, a somersault followed by a kick to the eye of the creature. JP was doing great as well, in his own manner, he didn’t have his dagger anymore, he resorted to punches and kicks, but mostly he held the pigs head while Clarisse dealt the damage. There was something in between them, Clarisse had that same aura that JP had, only hers made me feel brave, ready to take on an army of flying pigs, what was that similar aura…

"I have an idea" JP said. Before Clarisse could respond, he opened the pigs and jumped in. 

"JP! NO!" I could not hold my despair.

"Clarisse make sure it won't swallow!" Annabeth commanded. "Pedro, focus! He's not dead yet!" She looked like she'd seen death before, that's how she knew JP was going to live.

We reached the legs, and I could see what seemed to be a hand of a statue, I didn’t give it much attention. Once in position, we did a mental countdown  _ 3...2...1  _ and slashed, the snow at our feet was becoming red with so much blood, we chopped off its legs, but like I feared the creature did not go away, in fact it seemed to have made it angrier. 

I was about to drop my sword, and run. But what would happen to Clarisse and Annabeth? I could not leave them by themselves. And JP? Annabeth told me he's not dead, so I need to save him...That’s when I heard a slash down by the throat of the pig. Coming out from behind the pig's ear, a red blob of blood exploded and JP was holding a stick in his right hand. He screamed triumphant as he slide down from inside the pig. I think I'll abstain from pork for a while. 

“I found it Clarisse!” JP said, with his entire arm tainted with blood and he was holding the dagger Clarisse had given him.

“I was going to kill  _ you  _ for losing it. Great job! Now-” she held her spear “-let the fun begin!” She pierced the pig in the throat, where JP came out, and sliced in a circular pattern around the neck, decapitating Piglet. I was expecting a blood shower, but I got some little drops, and the pig simply vanished in a pile of dust along with the stains in my shoes and pants. How do you get rid of such a big thing like that…

We gather together, and now that there was no giant pig trying to kills us I could see that Annabeth was beautiful, her hair was such a wonderful shade of blonde, put in a ponytail, but her most distinguishing features were those grey eyes that matched the color of the sky today, apparently she took off her flannel in the fight, because she was holding it in her arm, and an orange T-shirt much like Clarisse's was showing. It read, in black: Camp Half-Blood on top, the black horse with wings in the middle, because pigs with wings weren’t enough, and Cabin 6 in the bottom. 

I looked at Clarisse as well, and she was beautiful in a scary way, like she would commit manslaughter for love, some scars all over her arms and cheeks, and bandages that seemed to be put there very recently. Her eyes were dark like the tree barks in the park. She was wearing the same shirt as Annabeth only at the bottom was written Cabin 5, makes me wonder how many cabins are there. And both were wearing a bead necklace, Annabeth’s had a ring hanging in the middle.

“Alright now that we’ve dealt with the pig in the park...What in the actual HECK happened back there?” JP was not having a good time at the park and neither was I.

“We intend to answer every single question you may have.” Annabeth said. 

“But it would be much easier if we have this talk with your parents.” Clarisse said.

“If they are still  _ around,  _ of course.” Annabeth gave Clarisse a stiff look. I made a mental note to never get on Annabeth’s bad side, she looked like she could rip someone’s liver because they spelled her name wrong.

"So it's settled, Annabeth go with blondie and I'll go with JP." Clarisse said.

"Blondie has a name, and it's Pedro." I said. "And there's no need to separate. We live right across the Park."

“Hold on…” Clarisse had a look that edged confusion “You two, are brothers?”

“Yes, we are.” I said. “Step-brothers if you want to get technical, but yeah.”

I am extremely okay with people having this confusion, JP is a big guy with dark hair and even darker eyes, he dresses like an 80's motorcycle guy, with leather jacket, leather fingered gloves and the whole attire, and I am blonde with light colored eyes, I dress mostly with hoodies and ripped jeans, I also wear Converse shoes religiously, as if there is no other type of shoe. Anyway, we have nothing alike yet we always say that  _ we live together  _ and honestly, I don’t care having to explain this.

“Only makes it easier.” Annabeth said. “Show us the way?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch.3**

**The “Birds-And-Bees” Talk Doesn’t Seem Very Intimidating Now**

We take our two lovely guests to our humble apartment. I really wished this was a hanging out with new friends, but the tension and silence were so thick I could cut it with my new sword.

We get to our building and take the elevator up to the 6th floor. I knew that once inside JP was going to start yelling and shaking his arms, because that’s what he does when he is anxious, so I held on to his arm to say  _ Let  _ me  _ do the talking. _

We get inside,

“Ed, the kids are here.” announced mom. It is normal in our household to whoever is closest to the door announce who is in the house, I don’t know how we got to that agreement, but I’ve done this since I’ve known JP.

“Hey mom-” I welcome Annabeth and Clarisse inside “-we brought guests.”

“They are-”

“We need to talk to you.” Annabeth interrupted. 

“Excuse me, you don’t interrupt people when they are talking!” I snapped, if there’s one thing I hate most in my life is being interrupted, and she can be scary and all, but _no one_ interrupts me. I gave her one last look, she seemed to get the message, either that or she was planning how to strip my throat out.

“We met them in the park, and they want to talk to you and dad.” I said. My mom came out of the kitchen and her look of confusion became... _ despair?  _ Why?

We sat down at the living room, my dad was shaking his leg, that was his sign to tell us  _ If they are trouble, run for it. _

“Guess we can begin.” Annabeth said. She was about to say something but Clarisse took the lead.

“Your sons here are demigods.” she announced, clearly this was not her first time breaking this kind of news.

“I’m sorry what?” My dad asked, almost screaming but he held himself.

“We are not sure yet, Clarisse-”Annabeth gave her a look, most likely because Clarisse skipped a bunch of things she should’ve said. “There is also the probability they can see through the Mist, you know? Like Rachel?”

“Battling like that? Uhn, Uhn they are sons of gods.” said Clarisse.

“Woah, woah time out.” JP and I said at the same time. 

“What do you mean demigods?” I asked

“Mist? What is that?” JP asked

“And that Rachel friend of yours...she single?” Hey! A guy can hope right!

“I’ll tell everything.” Annabeth said “From the  _ beginning  _ this time. You have probably heard of Greek mythology right?”

“Yeah, I have. My dad works with this kind of stuff at the museum." I said

"They are fascinating stories," my dad cannot resist to talk about mythology "The Greeks were very creative to come up with such amazing stories."

"I prefer Norse Mythology” JP said.  “I’m just saying,  _ Vikings  _ is superior to  _ Blood of Zeus. _ ” A thunder struck just outside our window, as if this was arranged. Annabeth looked at us, as if we had just said that the sun is a planet, which seemed like she heard that one a lot.

"Here's the thing. They are real. All of it, actually happened." Clarisse said

“That thunder just now, it was Zeus, he did not take your comment about _Blood of Zeus_ very nicely. He can be petty sometimes-” she looked up defying the skies “-Anyway, this was part of the proof I needed. The gods of Olympus are real, and sometimes they come to Earth and have kids. Clarisse and I here, we are children of gods. I am daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom."

"I am daughter of Ares, god of war." Clarisse said, proudly  "And just like us, you two are demigods.”

“But how can you be sure?” I asked.

“Because you are!” Mom and dad said at the same time. They look perplexed at each other. They held their hands together.

"Pedro is?" Mom asked with a smile.

"Yes. I knew she was a goddess, I just don't know which one." my dad admitted. 

"But working in the museum didn't give you a clue of who she might be?" I was not a big fan of talking about my mom, my _real_ mom, but now I always wanted to know more about my origins.

"Usually a god does look like the Greek depictions in tapestries or pottery from Ancient times." Annabeth said. "Ares for example, does have a war helmet he wears all the time..." she hesitates 

"He looks like JP." Clarisse said, without even looking up while she cleaned the tip of her spear. No one thought of this as unusual, because dad would sometimes bring swords and spears from his work, so he could analyze them at home, so seeing Clarisse clean a spear in the living room was just a regular Tuesday for us. 

“And this was something I wanted to talk to you kids.” Mom stood up, her hair was newly highlighted, I could never imagine her natural black hair, she looked better blonde, and she had a necklace on her, I could not see what it was. She wore a hoodie, with an orange shirt below it and jeans. “There is a reason why I chose... _ insisted  _ that we'd come to live in  New York." She slowly unzipped her hoodie and said "Deep inside Long Island there's a hill called Half-Blood Hill." Her hoodie was of now and she had her back at us. "Where demigods can live free from the dangers of the world."

"Dangers? Mom what are you talking about?" JP stood. "We've never been in danger."

"That's because your were not paying attention." she looked back at us. "Remember Mr. Tulio? The woman in the dam? The crocodile in the pool?" She listed a series of events that I thought were cool stories we had to tell our friends. But now she is saying that we were at the doors of death this whole time?

Everyone was surprised with that statement. Clarisse stood up, and approached my mom.

“How many beads do you have?” she said.

"Only one." When mom turned around she revealed a faded orange T-shirt, the faded black text once read Camp Half-Blood, now read C mp Ha -B oo, the flying horse design was missing a leg, and on the bottom was the only thing that remain intact, it read: Cabin 12. The necklace she was wearing was just like Annabeth and Clarisse's, only hers had one dark green bead. 

“Pack your stuff,” she looked to Clarisse, they were both smiling “We’re going on a trip.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch.4**

**My Uncle, The Horse**

“So you know who my dad is?” JP asked, almost choking mom through the back seat as my dad drove us, Annabeth and Clarisse included, to somewhere deep in Long Island, so deep there were trees everywhere we looked.

“Sorry honey, he did not give me his real name. He told me to refer to him as David,” she pursed her head back to look at the girls in the back of our van, “And I doubt there is a Greek god named David, right?”

“The only David I can think off is the one from the Bible, otherwise no David, Mrs. Cardoso.” Annabeth said.

“Please, call me Carla.”

“Carla then. And you are a child of Dionysus I see?”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Her shirt said Cabin 12, that’s where the Dionysus kids stay.” Clarisse answered. 

“My dad was Johnathan, my mom was Denise. My dad, however  _ he  _ was the son of Dionysus, I’m just a legacy.” Mom said, grandpa died 2 years ago, so talking about him is still a sensitive topic, we try to avoid. But if mom was okay talking about it, then we were okay. “But I’ve been to Camp, I’ve met Grampa D, and Uncle C there, don’t know if he will still remember me.” 

“What about my mom, dad?” My turn to be the anxious toddler. 

“I just remember that she disappeared in a flash of light, the day after you were born. She told me to raise you to be the man I was, and something about the world needing men like us.” 

I could see that. My dad was the most gentle a man could be, stuff like: Never interrupt people, know when to shut up, everyone deserves rights and all that good stuff. I just think it’s weird a goddess having to have children because there’s a lack of respectful man out there.

“We are here.” Clarisse said, as I returned to the world from my own thoughts.

On the horizon, there was a statue, and if we could see it from where we were it meant the thing was huge and probably sitting on some hill, 40 feet, that was my best guess, then I looked at my father, and he had the look on his face, the same when he held a real Greek drachma for the first time.

“Th-This...This is impossible! It was here the whole time!” He came to a full stop.

“Yeah that’s the real thing!” Annabeth said, with a tone of both pride and bother.

“Son!” My dad turned his head almost 180 to talk to me, “What were the biggest mysteries your dad always wanted answered?” He had several.

“The Location of Atlantis, The Bermuda Triangle itself,” When I mentioned the  _ Bermuda Triangle,  _ Annabeth and Clarisse let go a hiss, as if the mention of that name was painful. “And the Athena Parthenos, a statue that was supposed to be in the temple in Athens.” It took me a while, but I put two and two together.

“NO EFFING WAY!” And looking back at the statue, it did seem like something that would fit those ruins. Knowing that it was here, meant the world to me, because he could now move on with his research, it was a great day for the Souzas.

“Yeah, but getting it back from Rome was such a nightmare.” Annabeth grunted. “Anyways, we are here, everybody off.”

We got into the woods following a trail. At the end of the trail, there was a Greek arch with Ionic style columns. A little further ahead there was a house, it was an enormous blue farm house, with a big white porch with a porch swing, and the minute we passed the arch, a strong scent of strawberry hit our noses. Behind the house was a really tall man, he was wearing a sweater with a brown button down shirt underneath it, and he was reading something. My mom started to walk towards the tall man. “Uncle C?” Then she sprinted towards him screaming “Uncle C!” 

I guess Uncle C noticed the commotion, he opened a big smile and ran towards my mom. Oh and by the way, he was not just tall because he was tall, he was tall because he had the body...of a...the body of a horse. From the waist down Uncle C was a charming white stallion, he lowered himself and hugged my mom. We all approach, seeing he is not a threat.

“Oh my God, I missed you so much!” Mom said, now out of his embrace.

“How do you think I felt all these years, what was your dad thinking? Brazil, of all places?” said Uncle C.

“Hey! Don’t trash talk about my country! How would you feel if I said it about the U.S?” JP said, no one is more patriotic than he is.

“I meant to say that Brazil is so out of range that I would not be able to look after them.” His voice was deep and melodic, filled with experience. His dark brown hair was combed back and his beard was just like my dad’s, short and well-trimmed. 

“I’m sorry, who are you, exactly?” I asked

“Why, I am Chiron, trainer of heroes.”

“Ch-Chiron? As in  _ the  _ Chiron? The guy who trained Heracles, and a bunch of other Greek figures, that I can’t think off because I am in front of an actual mythological being.” As you can see dad gets really excited when the stories in artifacts he inspected before are actually true, I remember when he converted to Christianity when he found out that there were tales of Earth flooding, and a boat that carried animals and a family, was real. “Sir I have to say, it’s an honor to be in your presence.”

“Dad, you're embarrassing me in front of the mythological horse guy.” I said sarcastically. “No disrespect though. This is just all so crazy for me.” This part had no sarcasm.

“None taken,” Chiron said “And you must be the demigods in question.”

“How do you know we are demigods in the first place?” I asked 

“Because I predicted so.” A voice of a girl came from my left, coming out of the woods into the plain field, she wore a green t-shirt that was stained with various colors of paint, so was her face, arms and legs, she wore ripped jeans with stars drawn everywhere, her Converse which once was white, now was rainbow with a predominance of green and blue. It was impossible to not notice her, especially with her gigantic, puffy and curly, bright red hair.

“My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and I predicted that two more Half-Bloods would enter the roster.” she took an exaggerated bow, and smiled, “Welcome, to Camp Half-Blood!” 


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch.5**

**My Brother Challenges The Biggest, Meanest, and Toughest Girl Around**

I felt like a child, seeing this Camp made me feel like the first time I’ve visited an amusement park, there was an archery range to my left, and a bunch of kids hitting one bullseye after the other, on the horizon the beach with 3 to 4 docks, all of them filled with canoes, and girls swimming, they were green for some reason, also there were a bunch of half-man-half-goat creatures walking around,  _ satyrs  _ I remember my dad telling me about them,  _ fauns  _ if you’re Roman. 

Rachel showed us the place with Annabeth and Clarisse, our parents stayed at the Big House with Chiron to have a talk. 

“Here is the best part of camp” Clarisse pointed proudly at a wide open space with a few people in it. It was a big field with straw dummies, and various weapons scattered all around the field. In the distance we were able to see some people training archery, at least that part resembled a normal camp. “The Training Field, where all your hopes and dreams are shattered.” Something tells me she’s not kidding.

“Clarisse,” Annabeth said, as if disciplining a child, “What did I tell you about saying that about the Training Field?”

“That it scares the newbies.”

“Good to know that we are on the same page.” She turned to me, “This is where we...well, train.”

“As in... _ combat  _ train?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound like a scared cat.

“Grab a sword let’s see what you got.” Clarisse said that with too much enthusiasm for my taste.

“I think I’ll pass.” Note: If you see me sparring with Clarisse La Rue, send me to a mental hospital, because only someone with little to no brain would want to fight her one-on-one.

“I’ll go if he won’t.” Said JP, my point still stands.

“Great, I love humbling the big guys on their first day.” She had a malicious smile.

We went into a tent that had rows and more rows full of weapons: swords, shields, lances, kunai knives, even firearms, although those seemed untouched by the amount of dust in them, but why? I mean, a shotgun would’ve been very helpful against the Giant Pig from earlier. Come to think of it, why were they shooting arrows when there is a rifle right there?

Anyway, Clarisse stops in the middle of the tent, opens her arms as if showing off some sort of collection.

“Behold! The greatest arsenal in the world. Now dear JP, choose your weapon and choose wisely. I will stand outside waiting.” She starts to leave.

“Wait,” JP held her arm, “Aren’t you going to help me choose?”

“Well I cannot be your decider now can I? Even if I helped you choose, the decision would be yours anyway, so why not skip to the part where you choose the weapon by yourself?”

“Fair enough,” He lets her arm go “A warning for you: I plan to go ALL. OUT.”

“Seems like we have similar plans, good sir.” She twirls her fingers and leaves.

“Well I should get going as well” Annabeth said, seeming to be in a hurry.

“Where are you going?” I asked

“To warn the other campers to vacate the area. If I’ve seen what your brother can do, if he and Clarisse plan to go all out...we’re going to need a bigger field.” She rushes off, leaving JP and I alone...with a bunch of weapons...like a normal camp.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch. 6**

**JP Gets a Tailor-Made, Brand New Outfit**

I know my brother; he is always holding his punches when fighting a woman, not because of chivalry and all that (he takes the term equal rights, equal fights a little bit too far) but because he knows that he fights to make it hurt, his strength is unnatural, even for boxer standards; he was placed as a heavy weight at age 13 because the medium weight guys were scared to death for seeing him in the ring. But I also know, even though he tries to hide it, he is terrified of Clarisse, and rightfully so.

Clarisse saying that she does not plan to hold back did not budge JP, at least on the outside in front of Annabeth and her, because he will be holding back, so I wonder what all that drama Annabeth did was all about.  _ We have got to clear the place  _ whatever she means, but Clarisse sure is scary, so I won’t argue with her judgement.

JP takes his sweet time to choose a weapon, he goes on each row and tests every single weapon.

“Clarisse will not hold back,” I said, in Portuguese since it is only the two of us “maybe you should really consider how you’ll fight against her.

“She may be strong.” He answered “but--”

“She terrifies you, and you are stalling in hopes that some emergency comes up that the match will be canceled.”

“How do you know me so well?”

“I lived with you for long enough. C’mon pick something, and don’t worry, you’ll be great just see her as another one of your matches, now let’s go, you got a butt to kick.”

“Thanks, pray she won’t kill me.”

“Amen.” He picks up a combat knife. Its sheath was typical black military, with black straps, however the knife itself was a coppery color, I don’t know what the material was, maybe bronze, and it had a picture of a horn encrusted in it. I grab a sword, for the simple reason of having a sword, because you too would pick a sword and claim it as yours if you happen to see one laying around, or you know...get dragged into a summer camp where they have sword fighting training and flying horses, right?

Once we got out of the tent, the sun was about to begin sunset, the sky was a mixture of purple and orange, with the clouds shimmering silver. On the field Clarisse was waiting, supporting her weight in her spear, and my brother with a knife, that can only end well.

“Took your precious time, eh?” She said, but not angry as you would expect, more like she knew JP would take a while to choose a weapon. “All this time for a knife? Can’t do anything about it.” She looks around, “I am required to say that there is a medical team waiting, and they are ready to receive any of us, most likely you (she fake coughed when saying this last part) to their cares.” She looked back clearly annoyed that she had to make such an announcement “Does that sound good Solace?” In the middle of the crowd a blonde boy in a Hawaiian sweater (yes, you heard that right a  _ Hawaiian sweater _ ) lifted a thumbs up, as if they had rehearsed this for quite some time.

“Now for the good part.” She kicks her spear, does some flips and spins with it, and gets in a charging pose “Ready for the pain Brazil?”

Clarisse vanished from view, and I mean that literally. As she charged the only thing that indicated any presence from her was the gust of wind, and the drag print from where she was standing. In a blink of an eye she was a couple feet in the air, her spear ready to whack JP in the head, and simply no time for any human to think. She went down with the rod part of the spear, but JP got out of the way by simply lunging so he would have his back to her. As he turned to face her, Clarisse now was upside down and in midair she spun ready to attack again with the spear, to which JP defends by raising his arms and slouched in a way that he would be hit in his forearm and biceps. He went sliding to the side, which made me wonder if she didn’t just break my brother’s arm.

“You’re fast!” she exclaims.

“You’re strong!” JP replied.

He lunged and went for a jab, uppercut combo, a simple Muay Thai combination (Hey! When your sibling’s are fighters you learn a thing or two about fighting styles, because they’ll show you a thing or two.) Clarisse deflected the jab, but the uppercut hit her on the side, she was clearly startled but quickly recovered and dodged any future attack by doing a backwards somersault. I caught a glimpse of Annabeth, who was standing by my side, and the Solace guy, and basically every other person in the vicinity, were shocked.

“Let me guess.” I said with an unsurprised tone. “Next you’re gonna say: ‘No one has ever hit her during training’?”

“No one has ever--” she looked at me, as if I’m acting like a know-it-all.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’”

I return my attention to the fight, JP and Clarisse are both breathing heavily, and holding their position.

“Oh!” she spat on the ground “I see how it is! I was planning on holding back so I wouldn’t intimidate ya. But it seems I have nothing to worry about.”

“I warn you.” JP said, with a look that was familiar to me, a look that he is aiming for anything outside of Clarisse, because if he hits her...well, let’s just hope he does not hit. “Do not make me throw this punch, I recommend we stop the fight here and now.”

“Got cold feet all of sudden, Brazil? Don’t worry I can take it.” 

She lunged again at super speed. Only then I realized, JP’s knife was on the floor, he must’ve taken it out when she first kicked him. She kicked the knife in the air, and jumped. JP readied a right hook that would clearly miss right above her. However, Clarisse spun and went for a kick, and the knife on the flat of her shoe, she was going to stab JP by kicking the knife in him. JP’s knuckles met Clarisse’s calf. The ground shook a bit, a slash and cracking noise was heard. The dust was still up, but everyone could hear screams of pain. As the dust settled it was clear that the both of them were in lots of pain, JP was bleeding on his face and Clarisse’s leg was not good, because it was bent in an angle legs should not be bent. The medical team rushed, JP was being treated on the field while Clarisse was set on a tarp and taken somewhere, and she was...laughing?

“WOOHOO! NICE HOOK BRAZIL! LITTLE WARNING NEXT TIME WOULD BE GREAT!” She exclaimed as the medics put her on the tarp.

“I DID WARN YOU! YOU RABID DOG! OW!” His face winced as he spoke, that was going to leave a scar.

“The Mark of a Warrior!” a voice proclaimed from...everywhere! The sky lit up in a red-orange-ish light. All the wind pushed our gaze to JP as pieces of metal sprouted out of the ground, at first shapeless, but then three seconds later it became a bracelet, another one came and morphed into a chestplate. Piece by piece an armor starts molding and fitting itself in JP. The helmet was the last piece, it began to shape like a boar’s head without its jaw, and the eyes were red like rubies. The armor was Greek style and entirely made of dark bronze, except for the eyes and the tusks in the helmet, which were bloody red. 

“Proclaim Victory As You Go, My Son!” the voice said the ‘my son’ bit and the sky shook with power and a symbol appeared in his head, two red spears crossed in an X.

“YES SIR! LET’S GO!” Clarisse was clearly the most excited in the crowd. “Let me! Let me do this!” she stands up to one foot, while her other leg dangled below her. “Alright! God of War and Courage! All hail JP Cardoso! Son of Ares!”


End file.
